Claudia J. Dewane

Clinical social work is a derivative profession, drawing its knowledge and practice base from several theoretical schools. The four primary theoretical schools contributing to social-work ...
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Clinical social work is a derivative profession, drawing its knowledge and practice base from several theoretical schools. The four primary theoretical schools contributing to social-work philosophy are psychodynamic, humanist, cognitive–behavioral, and postmodern. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), although considered one of the third-wave behavioral approaches, draws from all four theoretical schools of clinical intervention. This entry gives an overview of ACT development, its essential features, empirical base, tenets and techniques, and relevance to the social-work profession.

Lia Nower and Kyle Caler

Gambling disorder is a significant public health concern. The recent and continued proliferation of land-based and interactive gambling opportunities has increased both accessibility and ...
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Gambling disorder is a significant public health concern. The recent and continued proliferation of land-based and interactive gambling opportunities has increased both accessibility and acceptability of gambling in the United States and abroad, resulting in greater and more varied participation. However, there is currently no designated federal funding for prevention, intervention, treatment, or research, and states are left to adopt varying standards on an ad hoc basis. Social workers receive little or no training in screening or treating problem gamblers, though research suggests that a significant proportion of those with mental health and other addictive disorders also gamble excessively. Raising awareness about the nature and scope of gambling disorder and its devastating implications for families and children is a first-step toward integrating gambling into prevention, assessment and treatment education in social work. This, in turn, will increase the chances of early identification and intervention across settings and insure that social workers can lend a knowledgeable and credible voice to addressing this hidden addiction.

Mansoo Yu and Rachel Fischer

Tobacco use is a major public-health concern in the United States. Intervention and prevention strategies for tobacco use are an urgent public-health priority because tobacco use is the ...
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Tobacco use is a major public-health concern in the United States. Intervention and prevention strategies for tobacco use are an urgent public-health priority because tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death. To help social workers better understand tobacco use problems, this entry presents an overview, including definitions of terms, the scope and impact of tobacco use problems in terms of different segments of the population (that is, age, gender, race or ethnicity, geographic location, and education level or socioeconomic status), etiology of tobacco use (for example, biological or genetic; psychiatric; psychosocial; or environmental or sociocultural factors), policy history, tobacco prevention, clinical issues (such as cessation desire, treatment and success, or screening tools for tobacco use disorder and tobacco withdrawal), and practice interventions for tobacco use problems. Based on the information, the roles of social workers will be addressed.

Jessica M. Black

Although it was once widely held that development through toddlerhood was the only significant time of tremendous brain growth, findings from neuroscience have identified adolescence as a ...
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Although it was once widely held that development through toddlerhood was the only significant time of tremendous brain growth, findings from neuroscience have identified adolescence as a second significant period of brain-based changes. Profound modification of brain structure, function, and connectivity, paired with heightened sensitivity to environment, places adolescence both as a heightened period of risk and importantly as a time of tremendous opportunity. These findings are of key relevance for social-work policy and practice, for they speak to the ways in which the adolescent brain both is vulnerable to adverse conditions and remains responsive to positive environmental input such as interventions that support recovery and resilience.

Namkee G. Choi

Adult day care centers provide important health, social, and support services for functionally and cognitively impaired adults and their caregivers. The adult day care services are ...
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Adult day care centers provide important health, social, and support services for functionally and cognitively impaired adults and their caregivers. The adult day care services are underutilized, however, because of the shortage of centers, caregivers' lack of awareness of and resistance to using services, and the mismatch between the needs of potential consumers and their informal caregivers and the services provided by the centers. To foster and support the expansion of adult day care centers, lessons learned from national demonstration programs need to be disseminated, and social workers need to be trained to provide essential services at the centers.

Patricia Brownell and Joanne Marlatt Otto

Adult Protective Services (APS) are empowered by states and local communities to respond to reports and cases of vulnerable adult abuse, neglect, and self-neglect. While incorporating ...
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Adult Protective Services (APS) are empowered by states and local communities to respond to reports and cases of vulnerable adult abuse, neglect, and self-neglect. While incorporating legal, medical, and mental health services, APS programs are part of the social services delivery system and incorporate principles and practices of the social work profession.

Sheryl Zimmerman

This entry presents information about group settings that provide residential long-term care for older adults, focusing on nursing homes and residential care/assisted living communities. ...
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This entry presents information about group settings that provide residential long-term care for older adults, focusing on nursing homes and residential care/assisted living communities. It provides an overview of both settings, and describes their scope of services, funding, and clientele. The section Issues in Residential Long-Term Care addresses issues of special relevance to social workers: dementia and other psychosocial care needs; quality of life and quality of care; access to and disparities in care; end-of-life care; family involvement; and abuse and neglect. It ends with a section on the role of the social worker in residential long-term care.

Nancy Morrow-Howell and Leslie Hasche

Despite high levels of functioning among older adults, chronic health conditions lead to impairment and the need for help. Family members provide most of the assistance; yet formal ...
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Despite high levels of functioning among older adults, chronic health conditions lead to impairment and the need for help. Family members provide most of the assistance; yet formal services such as in-home personal and homemaker services, congregate and home-delivered meals, adult day services, employment and educational services, transportation, nursing homes, assisted and supportive living facilities, legal and financial services, and case management are available. Even with the growing number and type of services, unequal access and uneven quality persist. In these settings, social workers develop and administer programs, provide clinical care, offer case management and discharge planning, and contribute to policy development.

Maryann Amodeo and Luz Marilis López

This entry focuses on practice interventions for working with families and individuals including behavioral marital therapy, transitional family therapy, and the developmental model of ...
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This entry focuses on practice interventions for working with families and individuals including behavioral marital therapy, transitional family therapy, and the developmental model of recovery, as well as motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioral therapy, relapse prevention training, and harm reduction therapy. A commonality in these intervention frameworks is their view of the therapeutic work in stages—from active drinking and drug use, to deciding on change, to movement toward change and recovery. We also identify skills that equip social work practitioners to make a special contribution to alcohol and other drug (AOD) interventions and highlight factors to consider in choosing interventions.

There are a range of practice interventions for clients with AOD problems based on well-controlled research.

Flavio F. Marsiglia, David Becerra, and Jaime M. Booth

Prevention is a proactive science-based process that aims to strengthen existing protective factors and to diminish or eliminate other factors that put individuals, families, and ...
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Prevention is a proactive science-based process that aims to strengthen existing protective factors and to diminish or eliminate other factors that put individuals, families, and communities at risk for substance abuse. Prevention is important because alcohol and drug abuse are a leading cause of morbidity, mortality, and health expenditures in the United States. Alcohol and other drug abuse is also associated with infectious diseases, chronic diseases, emergency room visits, newborn health problems, family violence, and auto fatalities. The comorbidity of drug and alcohol abuse with mental health disorders and HIV adds urgency to the development, evaluation, and implementation of comprehensive and effective prevention interventions. The social work profession plays a key role in substance abuse prevention, as it not only targets the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs but also aims at reducing the related negative health and psychosocial outcomes and economic burden they produce on individuals and society at large.

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